The disclosure relates generally to sealing technology, and more particularly, to a cover system and gasket system therefor for sealing a cover about an opening having a gasket seat having a greater number of fastener receiving elements than a number of fasteners used with the cover.
Industrial machines such as engines may include a number of inspection covers that can be removed during periodic repairs to inspect an inner part of the machines through an inspection opening sealed by the cover. The environments within these industrial machines can be extreme and require precise sealing of the covers to a gasket seat about the inspection openings. One conventional inspection cover system is shown in FIG. 1. This example includes a gasket seat 10 in a body of an industrial machine (not shown) that includes a cover 12 having twelve (12) fasteners 14 for holding the cover to the gasket seat. A gasket 16, shown in FIG. 2, is used with cover 12 and includes twelve (12) openings 18, one for each fastener 14. One challenge with cover systems as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is that the large number of fasteners used increases the time required to remove and replace the covers during inspection of the machine.